Mario Kart 8 has been released in Japan, North America, Europe and Australia.

Nintendo of Japan has announced via their Twitter that free DLC for a Mercedes Benz kart will soon become available for download in Mario Kart 8. This is only for Japan, nothing has been announced for the west yet.
 
It's nice to see some DLC heading towards this game, hopefully we'll see more in the future with additional characters. Since the game still needs characters such as Diddy Kong, Dry Bones, King Boo, Bowser Jr., E. Gadd, etc...

In Nintendo's recent Super Smash Bros. Invitational video, a bunch of new information regarded the event has been announced. Along side of that, Nintendo will be releasing an extension that allows players to use Nintendo GameCube controllers to play the new Super Smash Bros. games.
 

Bob Hoskins, best known for his role in the movie, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", has passed away at age 71 after being hospitalized for pneumonia.
 
Hoskins had a number of roles both on the big and small screens, among those roles he was cast as none other than Mario in the infamous "Super Mario Bros. The Movie", alongside of John Leguizamo's Luigi. However, despite playing a role as iconic as Mario, Bob Hoskins considered Super Mario Bros. The Movie to be the worst film that he had ever been apart of.
 
He later retired from acting in 2012 following a Parkinson's disease diagnosis after his role as one of the seven dwarves in the "Snow White and the Huntsman".

A Mario Golf: World Tour demo is now available on the Nintendo eShop in North America. The Demo allows for 15 uses and requires 836 blocks.
 
Mario Golf: World Tour releases in North America on May 2nd.

The official Japanese website for Mario Golf: World Tour is now open.
 
Check it out here.

Nintendo has just announced that a Princess Peach themed Wii Remote Plus will be joining the Mario and Luigi Wii Remotes later this month.

Nintendo released a new trailer today for Mario Kart 8, along with quite a few new details about the game.
 

 
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The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, the network used for the online functions of the Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii's games, will be discontinued on May 20th, 2014.
 
Below is Nintendo's official notice.

As of May 20, 2014, certain online functionality, including online play, matchmaking and leaderboards for many Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi games, will no longer be accessible. For a list of Nintendo games and services that are affected, please check http://www.nintendo.com. Users can still play these games in offline mode, which continues to offer a rich game-play experience. Other online functionality on Wii and Nintendo DS, such as access to the Wii Shop Channel, the Nintendo DSi Shop and video-on-demand services, are also not affected at this time.
 
 
Online play for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games will be unaffected (aside from the Wii mode on Wii U and Nintendo DS games played on Nintendo 3DS family systems).
 
Our focus now shifts to readying our Wii U and Nintendo 3DS matchmaking services for upcoming games such as Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros.
 
We at Nintendo sincerely thank our fans for their continued support of our company's legacy systems. Your enthusiasm for games made for these systems speaks to their longevity, and the passion of Nintendo fans.

 
This will be a sad day that feels all too soon, so if you enjoy playing any DS or Wii games online, now is the time to enjoy them while you still can.

Today's Nintendo Direct has announced that all seven of Bowser's Koopalings will be playable characters in the upcoming Mario Kart 8, releasing on May 30th. This marks the first time the Koopa Kids have ever been playable characters, this is definitely something we've been looking forward to for years.